Team-based learning and how it can be used to enliven microbial education.
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Transcript of Team-based learning and how it can be used to enliven microbial education.
Team-based learning and how it can be used to enliven microbial
education.
Michael J. McInerneyand
L. Dee FinkUniversity of Oklahoma.
Receivinginformationand ideas.
Active learning model
PassiveLearning
Active learning
ExperienceReflective dialoguewith:
Doing
Observing
Self
Others
Educative assessment
Audit-ive assessment
Grading
Backward-looking
assessmentForward-looking
assessment
Feedback
Self-assessment(by learners)
Educative assessment model.
Use of small groups Cooperative learning:
Groups as specific activity inserted into existing class; some type of project
4 members per group; assigned roles, paper or talk. Problem-based learning:
Problem comes first; requires restructuring of course Mentors; multiple lengthy projects, either as papers or talks
Team-based learning: Acquire needed information first then engage in learning tasks,
make a decision! 5-7 per group, no roles, work during class time, frequent and
prompt feedback.
Keys to team-based learning Groups must be properly formed and managed
Instructor forms groups; by experience not grade Students must be accountable for their individual and
group work Individual: Readiness assurance process Group: Peer assessment
Assignments must promote both learning and team development:
promote discussion, give and take. Students must get timely and prompt feedback Reward for success: somehow it must matter that team
performs well
Making good team assignments Which would be best for group activity?
A. Make a list: list mistakes in the writer’s use of active and passive voice
B. Make a choice: in passage, identify sentences that are active or passive voice
C. Make a specific choice: in passage, identify the sentence where passive voice is used most appropriately
Use row 5 to answer this question.
Evolution of quiz question Simple choice deduced from facts:
Have 97% carbon recovery but O/R ratio is 1.5. Which compound is missing?
Ethanol, CO2, H2, or lactate? Make decision:
Have 130% carbon recovery and O/R ratio of 0.7. Cost of radioactive substrate is $5,000.
Can you use washed cell suspensions to obtain a better fermentation balance?
Or could ask which of several approaches would be best to obtain a fermentation balance.
Essentials for implementing group assignments: The 3 S’s
Same problem: individuals/groups work on same project or question
Specific choice: require students/groups to use concepts to make a decision.
Simultaneous reporting: report answers/choices simultaneously.
Individualwork
GroupDiscussion
ClassDiscussion
Impact onlearningXX
Microbial physiology: situational analysis
Course content: Mechanisms of energy conservation carbon-carbon bond cleavage, role of vitamins/cofactors ecological applications
Required for microbiology majors; 50 to 80 students, mostly pre-medicine.
Problems: Lack of relevancy to students’ careers Poor retention of information and inability to apply
information to new contexts.
Changes made 2000: introduced weekly quizzes
2 to 3 multiple choice questions taken individually Form groups and take same quiz. Simultaneously report by raising card
2001 and 2002: introduced team projects as well. Mid semester project: pathway development End-of-semester project: electron transport and
bioenergetics.
Example of Quiz questions. Ask students to decide which of five
chemicals whose structures and octane ratings are given should be used in gasoline.
Ask students which of five enzymes was missing to explain growth of an E. coli mutant on three different substrates.
Ask students whether to fund a proposal on use of hydrogenase mutants to make 1,3-propanediol.
Glycerol
1,3-Propanediol
CH2
OH
CHOH
CH2
OH
CH2
OH
CH2
HC O
CH2
OH
CH2
CH2
OH
CH2
OH
C
CH2
OH
O
CH2
C
CH2
OH
O
O PO3
=
CHOH
HC O
CH2 O PO
3=
H2
O
3-hydroxy-
propionaldehyde
NADH
NAD+
NADH
NAD+
Dihydroxy-
acetone
Dihydroxy-
acetone-
phosphate
Glyceraldehyde-3-
phosphate
Glycolysis and
end-product formation
ATP
ADPStudents hadto decidewhether deletionof hydrogenasewould shift electronflow to propandiol
Sequence of team projects Give out data about 2- 3 weeks ahead of time Assign 3 to 4 journal papers to read On Monday of project week, each student turns in 1-
page write up. Provide class time to work in groups. On Friday, teams posters reviewed.
No identifying name or number Each team reviews other teams posters Assessment: post green, yellow, or red stickies notes Discuss/defend/explain Instructor summarizes.
Students assessing each others posters.
Mid-semester project: trans-aconitate metabolism
Equation: Trans-aconitate -> 1.8 acetate + 0.1 butyrate + 2CO2 + 0.9 H2
Molar growth yield: ~8 g/mole Metabolism of position-labeled compounds
[5-14C]-glutamate: not found in acetate or butyrate. [5-14C]-trans-aconitate: in carboxyl of acetate at one-half
the specific activity. Specific activities of 7 enzymes with trans-aconitate
and glutamate as substrates Concentrations of 6 intermediates during growth
with the two substrates.
Did high level learning occur? All teams correctly deduced that a
modified or new pathway was needed. 10 of 12 teams generated pathways
fully consistent with stoichiometry, growth yields, labeling patterns, enzyme and intermediate data
Prochirality: had to incorporation this property of citrate to explain the data.
End of semester project: Desulfovibrio bioenergetics. Determine whether recent information on
mutants requires a change in the model. Mutants:
Cytochrome c3 deficient (Rapp-Giles et al., 2000) Fe-only hydrogenase deficient (Pohorelic et al., 2002)
Modifications must explain mutant phenotypes and be consistent with molar growth yields (Magee et al., 1978) Most had multiply branched chains or hmc complex
that interacts with different carriers.
Threeroutestohmc complex
Student performance on final with and without team projects
Group project
No. of students
Median (200 pts.
total)
95% confidence
interval.
No 60 133 126-141
Yes(2 years)
121 154-165 150-160
Significantly higher after team projects
Final examination scores with and without team projects
Less low grades (<70)and more good grades(70’s and 80’s) withteam projects.
% in the 90’s notsignificantly different.
Why team-learning helps? Metacongitive instruction:
Interactions may have allowed students to learn how others learn, and thus develop a better sense of how they learn.
Critical for the durability of concepts and transfer of concepts to new contexts (Georghiades, 2000, Educ. Res.; Vosniadou et al., 2001, Learning Instruction).
Learning Styles: Sensor-feelers (Cognitive Profile Model) Intuitive thinkers: don’t memorize, must understand concepts These are the students with the traits best suited for
research.
Students’ attitudes before and after team-learning introduced
Students’ attitudesabout the instructor’sability to encourage critical thinking markedlyimproved.
Team-based learning and a graduate industrial microbiology Have students form teams to develop company to
make a specific product Instructor picks overall product:
Commodity ethanol production Biosurfactant production.
Teams choose: Market/application for process Strain Medium Fermentation process Molecular/genetic improvement approach
Team-base learning in introductory microbiology Non-majors class: mainly allied health
students. Have group activity after each major section
of the course: Anatomy, metabolism, growth, molecular biology,
and medical microbiology. Culminating project to link concepts together:
Role of microorganisms atherosclerosis. Modes of defense against bioterrorism attack.
Conclusions Teams accomplish significant learning tasks. Improved understanding and retention of
foundational material and improved problem-solving skills.
Students’ attitudes and classroom dynamics improved.
Mechanism to engage students in evolving process of scientific thought and inquiry.
Learning tool for teaching microbial diversity.
Team question One word reports (yes/no, up/down) are
the very best format to report group results.
Use row 2 to answer this question. A. Yes B. No?